Coil handling devices



April 5, 1960 A. E. R. ARNOT con. HANDLING DEVICES Filed July 20, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 5, 1960 Filed July 20, 1956 A.E.R.ARNOT COIL HANDLING DEVICES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 COIL HANDLING DEVICES Alfred Erwin Reginald Arnot, Basingstoke, England, as-

signor to Emmanuel Kaye and John Reginald Sharp,

Basingstolre, England Application July 20, 1956, Serial No. 599,164

Claims priority, application Great Britain July 20, 1955 1 Claim. (Cl. 214-652) This invention comprises improvements in or relating to coil handling devices.

In factories, stores and the like it is common to have to handle coiled goods such as coils of wire or cable or coils of strip metal. Usually coils are laid down on a floor or in a rack; they are frequently very heavy, too heavy to be easily lifted by manual labour. Although coils are commonly stored flat they are frequently required to be mounted for use so as to rotate on a horizontal or more or less horizontally extending axis. For example, coils or strip metal for use in press tools usually need to be mounted so that they can be unrolled and the metal fed in a horizontal position into a press or a shearing apparatus. 7

Coils of wire also usually require to be unwound from a mounting which holds them with a more or less horizontal axis.

it is an object of the present invention to provide a device forhandling coils which is capable of turning them from a level to an upright plane. It is a further object of the invention to provide a coil-handling device which is capable of operating-on coils without damaging them and which affords the maximum freedom of manipulation for the coils. It is a further object of the invention to provide a coil handling device which will enable coils to be readily handled into storage and removed therefrom.

According to the present invention a coil handling device includes in combination a gripper comprising a body and a plurality of shoes standing out from the' body and adapted to enter a coil, means for expanding the shoes away from one another to grip the interior of the coil, and a travelling carrier on which the gripper is supported so that it can be advanced into a coil to grip it and thereafter used for carrying the coil as a load.

In one embodiment of the invention the gripper is pivotally mounted on the carrier so that it can be turned over into a position which the shoes underlie the body of the gripper and moved down into a coil, operated to grip it and then turned upwards to bring the coil into a position where its axis is substantially horizontal.

The carrier may be a wheeled truck and the gripper be movably mounted thereon for vertical movement and pivotal movement about a horizontal axis.

if the truck is a masted truck and the gripper is mounted on a carriage on the mast so as to be capable of being raised and lowered thereon, this enhances its usefulness. the pivotal mounting of the gripper upon the carrier may be provided for by hingedly mounting the gripper about a horizontal axis which when the gripper is turned upward is below the shoes so that by rotating it about said axis the shoes can be turned over forwardly and downwardly.

To this end the gripper may comprise a back-plate hinged to the carrier about its lower edge, shoes projecting from the front face of the back-plate at least one 2. of which is movable across the face of the back-plate toward and away from the others and hydraulic means to eifect such movement. In one construction the hydraulic means to effect shoe-movement are mounted on the same face of the back-plate as the shoes themselves so that the back of the plate is free of obstruction. This permits the plate when in its horizontal position to be entered in any spaces where coils may be lying in the flat position with very little head room above them. The

back plate is also preferably kept clear of obstructionoutside the radius of action of the shoes because thisenables coils to be dealt with irrespective of their external diameter. The means for operating the back-plate about its hinge may comprise hydraulic operating elements which are so mounted as to be below the hinge, because this also ensures the possibility of operating in spaces where head room is limited.

The following is a description by way of example of certain coil handling devices in accordance with the invention:

In the accompanying drawings, 7 Figure 1 is a side elevation of part of a truck with a coil-gripping and lifting device, according to this invention;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of a coil-gripping attach- 15. The mast is preferably of the telescopic type, that is to say it comprises a fixed portion 15 on which works a rising portion 16 and the rising portion of the mast carries a carriage 17 which is able to run up and down it, the rising of the mast and the lifting of the carriagebeing effected by hydraulic means in known manner.

The carriage 17 consists of a vertical plate 19 carrying of the mast and their connection to the carriage plate is" stiffened by vertical webs 22. Near the front end of each of the box-shaped side arms 21 there is, close to the upperedge thereof, a horizontal pivot pin 23, the two' pivot pins being axially in line with one another. A coil gripper plate 24 is hingedly mounted on the pivot pins' so that it extends across between the side arms with the plane of the gripper plate approximately in the plane of the pivot pin. At each corner of the gripper plate where it is close to the pivot pins it carries a triangular web 25, one corner of which forms a hub which is pivoted on the pivot pin 23 and another corner of which is pivoted to the end of a jack-rod 26. The third corner of the threecornered plate is welded to the gripper plate. Each' jack-rod works in an hydraulic jack 27 which is located longitudinally within one of the box-shaped side arms 21 which project forwardly from the carriage 17. Thus, by" operating the two hydraulic jacks simultaneously, the

gripper plate 24 can be turned so that it is in a vertical plane standing up above the box-shaped side arms as in Figures 1 and 2 in full lines or turned down into a horizontal plane, as shown in chain lines, Figure 1, in which it projects forwardly from the box-shaped side arms 21. The stroke of the jacks 27 may be such if desired that they are able to move the gripper plate back behind the vertical Patented Apr. 5,

plane by a few degrees, as shown in chain lines at 29, Figure 1.

On the front face of the gripper plate 24, which is its under face when moved into the horizontal position, there are mounted a number of coil engaging shoes -30, 31. One of these shoes 31, is supported on a jack-rod 32 of an hydraulic jack 33 which extends parallel to the gripper plate surface across the centre thereof with the jack-rod 32 directed to the edge of the gripper plate which is nearest to the hinge-pin 23. The shoe 31 is a curved member with its radius of curvature approximately equal to the minimum internal radius of coil to be lifted.' It is stiffened by side-plates 34 which extend rearwardly one on each side of the jack-rod and itis roughened or cross-grooved to increase its frictional grip. The width of the pad, in a direction at right angles to the plane of the gripper plate, is made such as to correspond approximately with the normal axial dimension of coil which is to be lifted. The shoe 31 is lowered by the jack 33 and returned by springs 44.

The other two shoes 30 on the gripper plate are pivotally mounted thereon, on pivots 35, 36 one on each side of the body of the hydraulic jack 33 which works the first shoe. The shoes 30 have curved faces 37, grooved like the face of the jack-operated shoe 31 and if they are left free to swing about their pivots 35,36 they will adjust themselves so as to fit as nearly as possible against the inside of any coil into which they are lowered.

These shoes also have curved faces 38. In use, if the gripper plate is first moved relatively to the carriage into a horizontal position and then the carriage is lowered, the shoes can be lowered into the centre of a coil which is to be lifted, the movable shoe 31 being retracted. Hy-' draulic pressure being then applied to the shoe by jack 33, the interior of the coil is gripped at three points by the shoes 30, 31, and it can then be lifted by raising the carriage 17, and if necessary the rising section 16 of the mast of the truck. If the coil is to be brought into a position with its axis horizontal, the hydraulic jacks 27 in the side arms 21 are operated. In this position the coil can be transported by the truck to any position desired and then either let down again horizontally by reversing the operations by which it was picked up, or it can be kept with its plane vertical and by easing off the hydraulic pressure on the shoes 30, 31 it becomes possible to slide the coil off the shoes on to another mounting.

It is desirable that the shoes on the gripper plate, which form part of the gripping apparatus of the coil handling device, should be capable of gripping as wide a range of sizes of coil as possible. To this end, the two pivoted shoes are constructed with webs 40 which extend rearwardly from the pivot pins by which they are mounted on the gripper plate, in planes parallel to the plane of the gripper plate for a substantial distance. These webs not only serve to stiffen the shoe and to afford means for engagement with the pivot of the shoe; they are extended sufiiciently to afford a support for the second friction faces 38, which are at a different radius from the pivot pin from that of the first faces 37. By rotating the shoe through nearly half a revolution, the second friction surface can be brought into action as shown in chain lines in Figure 2, and as they have a different radius from the first they will engage with coils of a different internal diameter. Thus, a certain range of sizes is provided for by hydraulic movement of the hydraulically operated shoe; beyond this the pivoted shoes are turned round to bring their second friction surfaces into operation and a further range of sizes within the movement of the hydraulically operated shoe is afforded.

for coils intended to be readily fitted to existing masted trucks. The gripper has a rear plate 50 intended to be pivoted at 51 on the carriage of a masted truck of the kind described in patent specification No. 2,738,087. It is engaged at a lower level by the rams 52 of jacks 53 so that it can be tilted fore and aft but it cannot, like the gripper plate 24 of Figures 1 and 2 be tilted over forwardly into a horizontal position to pick coils up from the ground or a shelf where they may lie horizontally.

Parallel with the rear plate 50 is a front plate 54 which is circular. This is separated from plate 50 by a curved metal plate 55 welded between the two plates. In the intervening space is a hydraulic jack 56 carrying a downwardly projecting plunger 57. A large substantially rectangular opening 58 is cut through plate 54 in front of the jack 56 and covered by a plate 59. In the coverplate 59 is a smaller rectangular opening 60, extended at the top by two slots 61.

On the jack-plunger 57 is a head 62 which connects it to a large rectangular sliding channel section member 63,'fitting between guides in the rectangular aperture 58 of plate 54. The plate 63 carries brackets 64 which project forwardly through slots 61 and carry a cross-head 65 on which is secured a movable gripper shoe 66. The aperture permits the travel of the cross-head 65.

The shoe 66 is mounted on the cross-head flexibly, that is to say the cross-head 65 carries a rounded head 69 and the shoe 66 carries a socket in which the head 69 enters with play, so that the shoe 66 can tilt universally and adjust itself to fit against the interior of a coil with which it is engaged. Downward movement of the shoe 66 is effected by extending the jack 56 and return is effected by springs 71.

Other shoes 67 are pivoted on pins 68 which are secured in the plates 50-54. The gripping action of the shoes 66-67 is similar to that of Figures 1 and 2.

I claim:

A coil handling device having in combination a grip per assembly comprising a body, a plurality of shoes standing out from said body and adapted to enter a coil, including a pivotable, non-traversable shoe having two oppositely-facing gripping faces and an eccentric pivot between said faces, and a traversable shoe movable bodily toward and away from said non-traversable shoe to effect a gripping action on said coil means for moving said traversable shoe away from said non-traversable shoe to grip the interior of said coil and a traveling carrier on which said gripper assembly is supported so that it can be advanced into a coil to grip it and thereafter used for carrying the coil.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 2331,530 April 5 1960 Alfred Erwin Reginald Arnot It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below,

I In the heading to the printed specification line 7, date ofapplication in Great Britain for "July 20 1955" read July 21, 1955 column 1 line 63 for "theapivotal? read The pivotal and should be the beginning of a new paragraph.

, Signed and sealed this 27th day of September 1960.,

. (SEAL) Attest:

' KA L' O AXLINE ROBERT C. WATSQN Comissioner of Patents Attesting Officer 

